ShadowMountPlus (PS5)

Repository: https://github.com/drakmor/shadowMountPlus

Discord: https://discord.gg/x2Ppvzwjhm

Warning! Mounting images can cause shutdown problems and data corruption on internal drives! This depends on many factors, but is more common with older firmware versions. Please take this into account when testing.

ShadowMountPlus is a fully automated, background "Auto-Mounter" payload for Jailbroken PlayStation 5 consoles. It streamlines the game mounting process by eliminating the need for manual configuration or external tools (such as DumpRunner or Itemzflow). ShadowMountPlus automatically detects, mounts, and installs game dumps from both internal and external storage.

Compatibility: Supports all Jailbroken PS5 firmwares running Kstuff-lite v1.07+.

💜 Support Development

If you want to support this project, you can donate

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Current image support

PFS support is experimental.

Extension	Mounted FS	Attach backend	Status
.ffpkg	ufs	LVD or MD (configurable)	Recommended
.exfat	exfatfs	LVD or MD (configurable)	Compatibility / external-drive-only titles
.ffpfs	pfs	LVD	Experimental
.ffpfsc	pfs container	LVD	Experimental container for nested images

Notes:

• Backend, read-only mode, and sector size can be configured via /data/shadowmount/config.ini.
• Debug logging is enabled by default (debug=1) and writes to console plus /data/shadowmount/debug.log (set debug=0 to disable).
• UFS (.ffpkg) is the recommended image format for normal use.
• Use exFAT (.exfat) only for titles that need external-drive-style compatibility.
• When building exFAT images manually, keep the cluster size at 64 KB; smaller clusters can reduce performance.

Recommended FS choice

• Prefer UFS (.ffpkg) in most cases: this is the recommended default image format for ShadowMountPlus.
• Use exFAT (.exfat) only for games that do not work correctly unless they are handled like external-drive content.
• If you create an exFAT (.exfat) image manually, use a 64 KB cluster size. Smaller clusters can cause a noticeable performance loss.

Runtime config (/data/shadowmount/config.ini)

This file is optional. If it does not exist, ShadowMountPlus creates it from the bundled config.ini.example template on startup and uses built-in defaults until you uncomment overrides.

Supported keys (all optional):

• debug=1|0 (1 enables log_debug output to console + /data/shadowmount/debug.log; default is 1)
• quiet_mode=1|0 (1 suppresses plain informational popups but keeps rich toasts; default is 0)
• mount_read_only=1|0 (default: 1)
• force_mount=1|0 (mounting even damaged file systems; default: 0)
• app_install_all=1|0 (1 stages new titles and submits them through sceAppInstUtilAppInstallAll; default: 0 on FW below 12.00, forced 1 on FW 12.00+)
• image_ro=<image_filename> (repeatable; force read-only mode for this image filename)
• image_rw=<image_filename> (repeatable; force read-write mode for this image filename)
• image_sector=<image_filename>:<sector_size> (repeatable; force sector size for this image filename)
• scan_depth=<1..2> (1 = scan only first-level subfolders, 2 = also scan one additional nested level; default: 1)
• recursive_scan=1|0 (deprecated compatibility key; 1 forces scan_depth=2)
• scan_interval_seconds=<1..3600> (full scan loop interval; default: 15)
• stability_wait_seconds=<0..3600> (minimum source age before processing; default: 10)
• exfat_backend=lvd|md (default: lvd)
• ufs_backend=lvd|md (default: lvd)
• backport_fakelib=1|0 (1 mounts sandbox fakelib overlays for running games; default: 1)
• global_fakelib=1|0 (1 enables the global fakelib overlay when the folder exists; default: 1)
• global_fakelib_path=<absolute_path> (global fakelib folder; default: /data/shadowmount/fakelib)
• global_fakelib_priority=game|global (overlay priority when both global and game fakelib exist; default: game)
• global_fakelib_exclude=<TITLE_ID> (repeatable; disables the global fakelib overlay for matching titles)
• kstuff_game_auto_toggle=1|0 (1 pauses kstuff after tracked game launches and resumes it on stop; default: 1)
• kstuff_crash_detection=1|0 (1 enables crash monitoring and pause-delay autotune updates; default: 1)
• kstuff_pause_delay_image_seconds=<0..3600> (delay before pausing kstuff for image-backed launches; default: 25)
• kstuff_pause_delay_direct_seconds=<0..3600> (delay before pausing kstuff for direct/non-image launches; default: 15)
• kstuff_no_pause=<TITLE_ID> (repeatable; keeps kstuff enabled for matching titles)
• kstuff_delay=<TITLE_ID>:<0..3600> (repeatable; per-title pause delay override, last matching rule wins)
• /data/shadowmount/autotune.ini may also provide per-title pause-delay overrides with highest priority:
  • kstuff_delay=<TITLE_ID>:<0..3600>
  • <TITLE_ID>=<0..3600>
  • image_sector=<image_filename>:<sector_size>
• scanpath=<absolute_path> (can be repeated on multiple lines; default: built-in scan path list below)
• lvd_exfat_sector_size=<value> (default: 512)
• lvd_ufs_sector_size=<value> (default: 4096)
• lvd_pfs_sector_size=<value> (default: 32768)
• md_exfat_sector_size=<value> (default: 512)
• md_ufs_sector_size=<value> (default: 512)

Per-image mode override behavior:

• Match is done by image file name (without path).
• File names with spaces are supported.
• If multiple rules target the same file name, the last one in config wins.
• If no rule matches, global mount_read_only is used.
• Example:

mount_read_only=1
image_rw=PPSA1234-my-image.ffpfs
image_rw=MYGame 123.exfat
image_ro=legacy_dump.ffpkg
image_sector=MYGame 123.exfat:65536

Per-image sector override behavior:

• Match is done by image file name (without path).
• image_sector in /data/shadowmount/autotune.ini has the highest priority for matching image files.
• If no per-image rule matches, the backend-specific global sector size defaults are used.
• When image validation fails because the mounted file-system cluster size is smaller than the selected device sector size, ShadowMountPlus writes image_sector=<image_filename>:<cluster_size> into /data/shadowmount/autotune.ini and asks you to try mounting again.

Scan path behavior:

• If at least one scanpath=... is present, only those custom paths are used.
• /mnt/shadowmnt/pfsc and /mnt/shadowmnt are always added automatically, even with custom paths.
• With scan_depth=1 (default), only first-level subfolders are checked.
• With scan_depth=2, one additional nested level is checked.
• If recursive_scan=1 is set, ShadowMount+ forces scan_depth=2.
• Full scan loop runs every scan_interval_seconds (default: 15).
• Sources newer than stability_wait_seconds are deferred until stable (default: 10).
• Direct folder installs use <game>/sce_sys for this check; image and backport sources use the target path itself.

Backport overlay behavior:

• For each scanpath, use:
  • <scanpath>/backports/<TITLE_ID>/
• The backports folder is ignored during normal game scanning.
• A backport is applied automatically to the matching mounted game from any configured scan path.
• If multiple scan paths provide the same title backport, the game's own scan path wins; otherwise scan path order is used.
• If /mnt/sandbox/<TITLE_ID>_XXX/app0/fakelib exists while the game is running, ShadowMount+ mounts it into that game's sandbox common/lib.
• If global_fakelib=1 and global_fakelib_path exists as a directory, ShadowMount+ also mounts that folder into the same sandbox common/lib.
• When both global and per-game fakelib exist, the default gives the game's own fakelib priority by mounting /data/shadowmount/fakelib first and then the game-specific fakelib.
• global_fakelib_priority=global reverses that priority.
• Use repeatable global_fakelib_exclude=<TITLE_ID> entries to skip the global fakelib for specific games without disabling per-game fakelib.
• backport_fakelib=0 disables the sandbox fakelib watcher, including global fakelib.
• For backport_fakelib to work correctly, the standalone BackPork payload must be disabled. Running both at the same time will conflict.

Kstuff game lifecycle behavior:

• When kstuff_game_auto_toggle=1, ShadowMount watches game exec/exit events in the background.
• Image-backed launches use kstuff_pause_delay_image_seconds; direct/non-image launches use kstuff_pause_delay_direct_seconds.
• kstuff_crash_detection=0 disables crash monitoring and the automatic pause-delay tuning logic, while leaving normal kstuff auto-pause/auto-resume behavior intact.
• kstuff_no_pause skips auto-pause entirely for matching title IDs.
• kstuff_delay overrides the pause delay for matching title IDs, regardless of image/direct launch type.
• /data/shadowmount/autotune.ini overrides both config.ini and autopause.txt for matching title IDs.
• /data/shadowmount/autotune.ini also overrides image_sector rules from config.ini for matching image file names.
• A game source folder may optionally contain autopause.txt; it is read once at launch time.
• Priority order is: autotune.ini -> kstuff_delay from config.ini -> autopause.txt -> global direct/image default delay.
• If autopause.txt contains only a number, that value is used for direct launches and doubled for image-backed launches.
• autopause.txt may also use:
  • direct=<seconds>
  • image=<seconds>
• If both kinds of rule target the same title, kstuff_no_pause takes priority.
• When crash monitoring detects an app crash before kstuff was paused, ShadowMountPlus only notifies that the app crashed and kstuff is not to blame.
• When crash monitoring detects an app crash within 2 minutes after kstuff auto-pause, ShadowMountPlus doubles the applied pause delay for that title and upserts it into /data/shadowmount/autotune.ini (up to 3600 seconds), then prompts you to launch the game again.
• When the last tracked game stops, ShadowMount immediately enables kstuff again if it was the component that disabled it.

Validation:

• See config.ini.example for a ready-to-use template.

Mount point naming

Image mountpoints are created under:

/mnt/shadowmnt/<image_name>_<hash>

PFSC container mountpoints are created under:

/mnt/shadowmnt/pfsc/<image_name>_<hash>

Image layout requirement (.ffpkg, .exfat, .ffpfs):

• Game files must be placed at the image root.
• Do not add an extra top-level folder inside the image.
• Valid example: /sce_sys/param.json exists directly from image root.
• Invalid example: /GAME_FOLDER/sce_sys/param.json (extra nesting level).

PFSC container layout requirement (.ffpfsc):

• Do not place game files directly in the container root.
• Place supported nested image files inside the container; ShadowMountPlus mounts those nested images and scans them for the game.
• A nested pfs_image.dat file inside a PFSC container is treated as a PFS image.
• .ffpfsc uses the nested outer PFS profile (img_type=0x02); .ffpfs and pfs_image.dat files mounted from inside it use the nested inner profile (img_type=0x82). Signature verification and GDDR5 cache setup are kept in code but currently disabled.

Compressed PFS containers (.ffpfsc)

Compressed PFS mode is intended only for nested images. During packing, data is zero-padded to a 64 KB sector boundary, so the compressed PFS should be used as an outer container for another image rather than as a direct game-file layout.

Recommended layouts:

• exFAT image inside compressed PFS.
• Uncompressed PFS image inside compressed PFS.

MkPFS uses zLib compression. Decompression is hardware-assisted, but throughput is limited to roughly 150-250 MB/s. This is about one third of the speed of an external USB drive, FFPKG/exFAT images, or about one tenth of the internal drive speed. Keep this in mind when choosing which games to pack. Games that read large amounts of data or stream textures continuously may stutter.

Use the official PSBrew/MkPFS tool to pack PFS images.

Packing an uncompressed PFS image into compressed PFS

First create an uncompressed nested PFS image:

mkpfs pack folder --verify --no-compress --no-adjust-output-file-extension --version PS5 --inode-bits 32 \
  './PPSA07923/PPSA07923-app' \
  './pfs_image.dat'

Then pack the nested image (pfs_image.dat) into a compressed PFS container:

mkpfs pack file --verify --version PS5 --inode-bits 32 \
  './pfs_image.dat' \
  './PPSA12345.ffpfsc'

After successful packing, the temporary nested image can be removed:

rm './pfs_image.dat'

Packing an exFAT image into compressed PFS

First create a normal exFAT image using one of the methods from Creating an exFAT image. The nested exFAT image name must keep the .exfat extension, for example PPSA12345.exfat.

Linux:

chmod +x mkexfat.sh
./mkexfat.sh ./PPSA12345-app ./PPSA12345.exfat

Windows:

make_image.bat "C:\images\PPSA12345.exfat" "C:\payload\PPSA12345-app"

The exFAT image must contain the game files at the image root, without an extra top-level folder.

Then pack the exFAT image into a compressed PFS container:

mkpfs pack file --verify --version PS5 --inode-bits 32 \
  './PPSA12345.exfat' \
  './PPSA12345.ffpfsc'

After successful packing, the temporary exFAT image can be removed:

rm './PPSA12345.exfat'

Scan paths

Default scan locations:

• /data/homebrew
• /data/etaHEN/games
• /mnt/ext0/homebrew
• /mnt/ext0/etaHEN/games
• /mnt/ext1/homebrew
• /mnt/ext1/etaHEN/games
• /mnt/usb0/homebrew .. /mnt/usb7/homebrew
• /mnt/usb0/etaHEN/games .. /mnt/usb7/etaHEN/games
• /mnt/usb0 .. /mnt/usb7
• /mnt/ext0
• /mnt/ext1
• /mnt/shadowmnt/pfsc (mounted PFSC container scan)
• /mnt/shadowmnt (mounted image content scan)

You can override scan roots with scanpath=... entries in /data/shadowmount/config.ini.

Manual install list

For games that should not live under the normal scan paths, ShadowMountPlus also checks:

/data/shadowmount/manual.lst

Add one source per line:

• Path to a game folder, where sce_sys/param.json exists inside that folder.
• Path to a supported image file: .ffpkg, .exfat, .ffpfs, or .ffpfsc.
• Empty lines and lines starting with # are ignored.

Example:

/mnt/usb0/MyGames/PPSA12345
/mnt/usb0/images/PPSA54321.ffpkg
# /mnt/usb0/disabled/PPSA00000

manual.lst is watched for changes. When you add a new line, ShadowMountPlus rescans shortly after the write, mounts images when needed, and installs the game through the same pipeline as normal scan path discoveries.

Manual install state is tracked in:

/data/shadowmount/manual.status

This status file is managed by ShadowMountPlus. If a manually installed game is later removed by the user and disappears from app.db, ShadowMountPlus marks it as deleted in manual.status and removes the matching source line from manual.lst so it is not installed again automatically. If you later add the same source path back to manual.lst, it will be processed again and the status will be updated after installation.

You can use Dump Installer to install or prepare game dumps for this manual workflow, then add the resulting game folder path or image file path to manual.lst.

Recommended folder structure:

• Default mode (scan_depth=1):

  • /data/homebrew/<TITLE_ID>/
  • /data/etaHEN/games/<TITLE_ID>/
  • /data/homebrew/backports/<TITLE_ID>/
  • /data/etaHEN/games/backports/<TITLE_ID>/

• Nested mode (scan_depth=2):

  • /data/homebrew/PS5/<AnyFolder>/<TITLE_ID>/
  • /mnt/ext0/etaHEN/games/<Collection>/<TITLE_ID>/
  • /mnt/ext0/etaHEN/games/backports/<TITLE_ID>/

Creating an exFAT image

Recommended only for titles that need external-drive-style compatibility. For general use, prefer .ffpkg.

Linux (Ubuntu/Debian):

• Required components installation:
  • sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y exfatprogs exfat-fuse fuse3 rsync
• Script: mkexfat.sh
• Usage: ./mkexfat.sh <game_root_dir> [output_file]
• Example:
  • chmod +x mkexfat.sh
  • ./mkexfat.sh ./APPXXXX ./PPSA12345.exfat
• Notes:
  • Source folder must be the game root and contain eboot.bin.
  • Auto-calculates image size using rounded file allocation + metadata + safety margin.
  • For manual exFAT builds, keep the cluster size at 64 KB or you may lose performance.
  • Automatically selects exFAT cluster profile:
  • Large-file profile: 64K
  • Small/mixed-file profile: 32K

Windows:

• Recommended: use make_image.bat (wrapper for New-OsfExfatImage.ps1 + OSFMount).
• Requirements:
  • Install OSFMount: https://www.osforensics.com/tools/mount-disk-images.html.
  • Keep make_image.bat and New-OsfExfatImage.ps1 in the same folder.
  • Run cmd.exe as Administrator.
  • If you build an exFAT image manually instead of using the script, keep the cluster size at 64 KB or you may lose performance.
• Usage:
  • make_image.bat "C:\images\game.exfat" "C:\payload\APPXXXX"
• Behavior:
  • Auto-sizes the image to fit source content.
  • Source folder must be the game root and contain eboot.bin.
  • Formats and copies source folder contents into image root.
• Optional (fixed size): run PowerShell script directly:
  • powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\New-OsfExfatImage.ps1 -ImagePath "C:\images\game.exfat" -SourceDir "C:\payload\APPXXXX" -Size 8G -ForceOverwrite

Creating a UFS2 image (.ffpkg)

FreeBSD:

• Script: mkufs2.sh
• Usage: ./mkufs2.sh <game_root_dir> [output_file]
• Example:
  • chmod +x mkufs2.sh
  • ./mkufs2.sh ./APPXXXX ./PPSA12345.ffpkg
• Notes:
  • Source folder must be the game root and contain eboot.bin.
  • The script auto-calculates image size using rounded file allocation + metadata + safety margin.
  • Recommended newfs parameters for UFS2:
  • newfs -O 2 -b 65536 -f 65536 -m 0 -S 4096
  • mkufs2.sh keeps this fixed block/fragment/sector profile and auto-tunes -i based on source file/directory count.
  • Rough manual -i estimate for manual builds:
  • target_inodes ~= file_count + dir_count + 2048
  • bytes_per_inode ~= image_size_bytes / target_inodes
  • Round bytes_per_inode down to a multiple of 4096, then keep it in the practical range 65536..262144.
  • Practical rule of thumb: use 262144 for normal game dumps, 131072 for tens of thousands of files, and 65536 only for very file-dense images.
  • Example: for an 8 GiB image with 60000 files and 4000 directories, -i ~= 8*1024^3 / (60000 + 4000 + 2048) ~= 130312, so use -i 131072.

Windows:

• You can create UFS2 images with UFS2Tool https://github.com/SvenGDK/UFS2Tool.
• Example:
  • UFS2Tool.exe newfs -O 2 -b 65536 -f 65536 -m 0 -S 4096 -i 262144 -D ./APPXXXX ./PPSA12345.ffpkg
  • For manual builds, use -i 262144 as the baseline and lower it for images with many small files.

Installation and usage

Method 1: Manual Payload Injection (Port 9021)

Use a payload sender (such as NetCat GUI or a web-based loader) to send the files to Port 9021.

1. Send shadowmountplus.elf.
2. Wait for the notification: "ShadowMount+".

Method 2: PLK Autoloader (Recommended)

Add ShadowMountPlus to your autoload.txt for plk-autoloader to ensure it starts automatically on every boot.

Sample Configuration:

shadowmountplus.elf
!3000
kstuff.elf

---

Troubleshooting

If a game is not mounted:

• Debug log is enabled by default; if disabled, set debug=1 in /data/shadowmount/config.ini.
• Check /data/shadowmount/debug.log and system notifications from ShadowMount+.
• Verify scan roots:
  • if scanpath=... is set, only these paths are scanned;
  • /mnt/shadowmnt/pfsc and /mnt/shadowmnt are always scanned.
• Verify scan depth:
  • scan_depth=1 scans only first-level subfolders;
  • scan_depth=2 scans one additional nested level;
  • recursive_scan=1 is treated as deprecated compatibility mode and forces scan_depth=2.
• If logs show source not stable yet, adjust stability_wait_seconds (or wait for source copy/write to finish).
• Verify game structure:
  • folder game: <GAME_DIR>/sce_sys/param.json;
  • image game (.ffpkg / .exfat / .ffpfs): sce_sys/param.json must be at image root (no extra top-level folder);
  • PFSC container (.ffpfsc): nested supported image files are scanned; direct game files inside the container are ignored.
• If you see missing/invalid param.json for an image, check via FTP that files are present under /mnt/shadowmnt/<image_name>_<hash>/ and include sce_sys/param.json.
• If you see image mount failure, check image integrity and filesystem type (.ffpkg=UFS, .exfat=exFAT, .ffpfs=PFS, .ffpfsc=PFS container).
• If you see duplicate titleId notification, keep only one source per <TITLE_ID>.

If a game is mounted but does not start:

• Check registration notifications (Register failed ...).
• If the game is not registered, try removing its launcher icon and removing it from Itemzflow.
• If this does not help, remove the game data from system settings and retry (this will delete game saves).

⚠️ Notes

• First Run: If you have a large library, the initial scan may take a few seconds to register all titles.
• Large Games: For massive games (100GB+), allow a few extra seconds for the system to verify file integrity before the "Installed" notification appears.

Credits

• Drakmor - Evolution of ShadowMount to ShadowMountPlus

• Special Thanks:

  • VoidWhisper for ShadowMount
  • BestPig for BackPort
  • EchoStretch for kstuff-toggle and etc
  • Gezine
  • earthonion
  • LightningMods
  • RenanGBarreto for his excellent https://github.com/PSBrew/MkPFS
  • john-tornblom for SDK
  • PS5 R&D Community